What else can Business Intelligence Do?

A lot of time, when I'm discuss Business Intelligence with people, we end up talking about the really standard things that can be done - Operational reporting, Ad Hoc analysis, a bit of dashboarding... stuff like that. What I have come to realize is that, in many cases, the power and utility of a Business Intelligence platform is realized when you use it for the 'not so standard' business applications. Let's discuss a couple of examples.

One of our clients (an equipment rental company) found that staff were having problems keeping track of the many shipping jobs they had on the go throughout the day. New orders would constantly be coming in, and the packers/shippers were trying to keep on top of what orders had to go out, and in what priority. What did we do? We created a small tracking dashboard, updated every minute, that showed the sequence of orders still to be picked/packed. The board was visible for all packers to see, all day long, and it immediately brought focus to the shipping department, significantly reducing the number of late deliveries. Result? Happy staff and equally important happy customers!

As another example, a client of ours runs a fairly high volume distribution business, with several staff entering lots of orders througout the day. There are several components that are very active in the business, and it is crucial for staff to monitor the level on hand at any time, to avoid promising shipment of an out-of-stock item. The staff could certainly navigate through the order entry system while on the phone with the customer, but for each item this would take about 10-15 seconds, and about 8 mouse-clicks each. Solution - we created a simple report that automatically refreshes every 15 seconds containing stock levels for the critical items. Now the order taker can open the report while on the phone, and see the status of all the critical items immediately. Impact - a significant reduction in time on the phone, and much improved customer service.

As a final example, another client (also in distribution) was requested by one of their vendors, to provide sales volume and location information, so that they could together determine effectiveness of marketing and sales efforts. By leveraging their BI platform, the client was able to create a monthly report with all the required information, delivered automatically to the vendor. Not only that - they have been able to develop similar relationships with several other vendors, and have turned the information into a 'for-fee' offering. Essentially their BI platform has created its own direct revenue stream!

These are just a couple of examples of where BI pays off. I hear lots of people talking about "Time to value" and "Return on Investment", and these are certainly critical to effectively making decisions and leading a business. My point is that these aren't the only criteria. Sometimes the benefit of a BI system is not immediately apparent. And sometimes it comes from areas you least expect.

Regards,

Jim